Canada's largest carrier will not sell BlackBerry Z30 in stores

BlackBerry revealed yesterday that the BlackBerry Z30 will go on sale October 15 in Canada, but the list of carriers that would carry the device did not include Rogers. Now we know why: Rogers will not sell the device in store because it would rather sell its existing BlackBerry devices.

Though Rogers has been a partner of BlackBerry since the 1990's and carried the first BB10 devices, the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10, it has chosen not to carry the Z30 because it has limited shelf space. Rob Bruce, Rogers president of communications, said that the company can only "pick what we think are the biggest winners" from each company. Does that mean Rogers thinks the Z10 is a bigger winner than the Z30? Probably not, but the carrier likely does not want to take on a new all-touchscreen BlackBerry device when the last one saw such poor sales.

Bruce downplayed suggestions that this spells trouble for BlackBerry or that Rogers believes anything other than its in the carrier's best interest to focus on its existing BB10 lineup. He said:

"This doesn't have anything to do with whatever anyone thinks is going on with BlackBerry. People are trying to attach some significance to this decision. There isn't any."

Rogers' decision not to carry the Z30 is a "routine decision," according to Bruce. Canadians who wish to purchase the BlackBerry Z30 can buy the phone from TELUS, MTS, Sasktel, Best Buy, and Futureshop.